Crumb Coat

[Pastamancer]

Now this is probably a daft question but I'm good at those so will ask anyway.

I know that you need to do this to smooth the cake ready for icing but how do you make it? I've tried before with buttercream but it just stuck to the knife rather than the cake and certainly didn't leave a smooth finish. Any tips?

You do a thin coat of buttercream on the cake, let it set and then do another coat of buttercream. The first coat is often quite tricky, but it really does help to persevere with the first coat to get the second coat looking perfect.

i think it needs to be quite soft to go on easily, a burly stiff buttercream is going to be difficult to stick to the cake

If its sticking to the knife, you need to thin the buttercream down with milk. Add a good slosh and beat it until smooth. And chill the cake, it makes it firm up a bit, and much easier to crumbcoat. Then do 2 thin layers of BC, chilling for half an hour between coats.

The problem with putting an uncoated cake in the fridge to firm up is that it will make the cake go stale more quickly.

Agree about milk. Also have a mug of boiling water and then dip your (butter/ spreading) knife in it before spreading the buttercream. Repeat as and when sticking. Obviously scrape/ shake the water off but you will get a better finish - it doesn't stick. Also put lots of small dollops not one big, otherwise pieces of the cake get pulled loose. Then stick in fridge to set (not very long).

Yes I would only put in fridge after crumb coat and only briefly. However if you have previously frozen the cake it is easier so if not worried about cake/ getting desperate worth trying. Also if you are then doing royal icing I read a tip to try trex rather than icing sugar when rolling out. Not much but if it's sticking/ not behaving worth a try.

I only mean for half an hour or so bunbaker I do it all the time and never had a complaint about stale cake. Have you had cake go stale using that method?

No I haven't. Our fridge is frost free and sucks the moisture out of foods so I don't put bread or cakes in it.

These tips are very helpful.

What recipe would you use to coat an 8" round cake? I'm never sure on quantities and so many recipes online differ from each other. Would the buttercream for the crumb coat be the same as the type used as filling between layers?

Fair enough. I didn't realise frost-free did that. Mine is an old clunky fridge so I don't think its an issue.

You have reminded me though, my sister had a cake taste funny after freezing it repeatedly while shaping it. I've never had one go like that.

pasta yes I use the same BC for between layers as I crumbcoat with. And don't put jam on the same layer as the BC and jam go all slippy.